The rim of Diablo Canyon was crumbling rock and twisted scrub brush. The canyon wall fell away in a series of abrupt steps that continued, jutting out farther and farther, until it gave away to a small stream glittering in the distance. Jesse frowned. Throwing the metal man off this cliff was not going to be as dramatic as he had thought.
As Jesse looked to either side, he saw the struts of the aborted bridge sticking out into thin air a ways off to his left, and smiled. “C’mon, boys. We’re gonna go make use of the local facilities.”
They walked along the lip of the canyon, the weathered back walls of the town on their left. Hauling the metal body was starting to take a toll on many of the boys’ spirits, and the talk had died down. But there were still wolfish smiles, especially as they stared at the metal rails springing out from the buildings ahead.
The tracks that came down the center of Diablo Canyon and continued for ten or twenty feet out into midair cut through the impromptu equipment yard that had developed over the years. Jesse paused to admire the piles of material and machines, most covered with shrouds of stained, flapping canvas. In the center of the yard Frank was talking with Cole Younger, gesturing towards a truly impressive vehicle whose canvas covering was now piled loosely up on the ground.
The thing looked like an enormous scorpion or ant, standing tall on six metal legs that arced up and then back down in wide, splayed metal feet. The body was a boxy shape that looked a lot like most wagons did in the post-RJ-1027 age, but the nose of the beast was truly awe-inspiring. An array of drills, each articulated on its own extended arm, thrust out from the cab of the wagon. Jesse could see how they were built to be able to direct their attention in a wide arc in front of the crawler, for digging large, deep holes in almost any terrain. His smile widened around his smoke.
“Well don’t that just beat all, eh?” He nodded to Frank and Cole as they turned at his voice. “We got anybody hereabouts that’ll be able to drive the thing?”
Frank nodded. “We found a few guys in the saloon over yonder, eager enough for a fresh perspective they were willin’ to sign on.” Jesse looked over his brother’s shoulder at a small group of five men standing beside the drilling machine. Frank gave him a meaningful look. “I told ‘em they’d be gettin’ equal shares o’ the treasure.”
Jesse smiled even wider and raised his voice so the men could hear clearly. “Well ain’t that grand! Ain’t nothin’ goin’ on here ain’t everybody gonna take home some nice coin on!” He looked back at his brother. “They got anythin’ else that could help us? I’m thinkin’ you didn’t sign on five galoots to be drivin’ this one rig, eh?”
Frank frowned. “No, I didn’t. There’s a bunch of equipment we’re loadin’ in the driller. Stuff you wouldn’t believe, Jesse. They got a thing that can see through rock! An’ another that can listen to the ground and tell you what you’d be lookin’ at if you dug down there! You find us where to dig, we’ll find this thing for you.” His look grew more sober. “It’ll be easier once we know what we’re lookin’ for, o’course.”
Jesse took the cigarillo out of his mouth and spit a bit of tobacco away to the side. “Easy, Frank. Now that we got the equipment, Billy’ll have to be square with us, if we can’t get the info out of one of his boys. Ideal situation, we hide this stuff away a bit down south, then come findin’ Billy. We either snatch one of his boys and get the name o’ this canyon the Kid’s been holdin’ so close to his vest out of ‘im, or we just talk to Billy directly, but this time with a much stronger hand, as we got the tools he’s gonna need!”
Jesse looked over to where his men were waiting impatiently to toss the UR-30 into the canyon. “Ain’t like we didn’t pay the full ante, now was it.”
Frank nodded. “We did that, Jesse. You want comp’ny? ‘R you want me to get this stuff up onto the main road?
Jesse looked back towards the center of town, clearly identifiable from the columns of dark smoke rising into the air in that direction. “Yeah, get this back, and get the boys ready to go. We’ll just leave the two ‘Horses. Randall had one o’ the slowest anyway, and Gage’s ain’t fit fer parts no more. I’ll be done here in a jiff, ‘n be followin’ you directly.”
Frank nodded and turned back to the giant drilling machine. “Let’s get her up’n runnin’ boys!”
Jesse returned to the men carrying the dismantled Enforcer. “Okay, lads, what’re you thinkin’? We dump the whole thing over at once, or one piece at a time?”
*****
After disposing of the robot, Jesse and his gang gathered back in the center of town. The enormous drilling machine was snorting softly, its fuel tanks and engine core glowing red from many ports and dials. The thing had left a trail of deep divots in the street, and Jesse knew sneaking it out of town was going to cause some problems.
The bodies of his men had been buried by a detail of the younger gang members, and the two Iron Horses they would no longer need were dumped back in the equipment yard, covered in the tarp that had once shrouded the driller.
Frank and the Coles stood in the center of the street, ignoring the growing group of townsfolk that gathered along the boardwalks.
“Well, boys, think we’re about ready to move out?” Jesse took the stump of the quirley out of his mouth and flicked it towards the smoldering building where the UR-30 had come to rest. “I’m thinkin’ we take all this stuff south a few hours, find a nice little niche to stow it, an’ wait for Billy to show himself.” He tapped on the metal legs of the crawler with one metal forearm. “Think this thing can go overland, Frank? I’d rather not bump into anybody on the trail.”
Frank nodded. “What it was built for, Jesse. Or so they tell me.”
“Alright then, let’s move out.” He moved to his big Blackjack and swung his leg up and over, settling into the saddle. He raised his voice to be heard over the cacophony of sixteen RJ-1027 engines roaring to life. “Now, you folks done yourself proud, keepin’ to yourselves. But I swear, I hear you disturbed my boys so’s you could lynch their bodies, I’mma gonna come back, and I ain’t gonna be happy.”
The only response was a universally sullen, flat glare, and Jesse smiled at their cowardice. “Alrighty then. See ya’ll!”
The column of Iron Horses moved out, the Blackjack in the lead, and the lumbering drilling machine sliding along in a strange, swinging gait behind. It had been surprising, how quickly the thing could move with a full burst of power behind it. They had had to steal batteries from half the machines in the lot to top off the thing’s power cells, but two of the men Frank had found were old hands at that sort of thing, and it had not taken long. They had also been able to hot-charge the ‘Horses and the Blackjack, so everything was heading out fully charged. The driller was never going to keep up with an Iron Horse at full throttle, but they were making excellent time out into the brittle grasses of the badlands, and Jesse could feel everything coming together for him.
He could not quite see what Billy’s plan had been, but he knew the younger man would be coming this way eventually, and when they ran into each other again, the world was going to see that Jesse was still the curly wolf in the wild west.
He was leaning back in his saddle, smiling at these heart-warming thoughts as they ran through his head, when a shattering detonation erupted just in front of him. The entire plain seemed to lift into the sky as a sheet of red fire flashed out from underneath. Dirt, dust, and clumps of grass began to rain down all around, covering the gang in a layer of grit and coating the ‘Horses and the drilling rig in fine reddish dust.
Men behind Jesse were yelling and screaming, demanding to know what was happening. Jesse thought he knew. When that familiar old voice, high pitched like a young boy’s, shouted at him from out of the curtain of dust, he was not surprised in the slightest.
“Howdy do, Jesse!” Billy the Kid sauntered out of the floating smoke and grit, a titanic grin across his face. “You made it!”
Chapter 13
Jesse James was plen
ty familiar with the feeling of a smug, self-satisfied smile. He did not, however, enjoy being on the receiving end of one.
Billy spit a stream of tobacco juice off to the side, his thumbs hooked nonchalantly behind his pistol belt. “’Course, you’re not quite where I thought you’d be. Took a bit o’ scramblin’ to get ahead of ya, once you decided to head out across the flats.” The grin grew even wider. “But wasn’t much trouble, was it boys?”
A series of hoots and laughs sounded from out in the stunted clumps of yellowed grass. The great plume of dust had begun to settle, but there was still an acrid-tasting gritty fog hanging over the entire area. Jesse thought he could see a glint of light here or there reflecting off a piece of equipment or a weapon lens, but he could not be sure.
“Where ya been, Billy?” Jesse’s voice was calm and relaxed. “Thought we were gonna meet up in the Canyon, no?”
“Oh, c’mon Jesse! That jig is up, friend. When you decided to go in after the equipment on your own and not wait for me an’ mine!” Billy spit again, his grin reddish with the tobacco. “You think I’m some sort of mooncalf, do ya?”
Jesse made a great show of thinking for a second, then shook his head. “No, I figured you more for a chiselin’ coffee boiler, who‘d rather let someone else do their work for ‘em, is what I figured.”
Billy’s grin slipped, but then shone brighter than before despite the pall of smoke and dirt. “Well, there may well be somethin’ to that, Jesse, there sure is.” He lazily flicked a hand towards the column of ‘Horses behind the older outlaw chief. “Fer instance, I’d much ruther let you run into that mill blade metal man they had shepherdin’ the fine folks o’ Diablo Canyon for me. An’ I knew, if I set it up for ya, you’d be more than happy to oblige. How’d that work out for ya?”
Jesse felt his own smile tighten. “Lost five o’ my men goin’ in alone, Billy. One o’ my best.” He pulled his goggles down around his neck. “That ain’t likely somethin’ I’m gonna forget.”
Billy laughed. “That’s a grand yarn yer spinnin’ there, but I don’t think yer foolin’ anyone within earshot. Ain’t no one forced your hand on that one, my friend. We was supposed to go in t’gether, an’ you rushed out here an’ raced in on yer own. I’m right sorry fer yer boys, Jesse, but that ain’t on me, an’ it ain’t on none o’ my boys.”
Jesse ground his teeth, working his jaw in frustration. He shifted to the side and spit bitterly into the dirt. “Well, one thing’r another, we’re all here now. What’aya wanna do?”
Billy’s smile cranked a little bit wider. “Well, I figured, we’d take that fine contraption an’ all the gear off of ya, an’ yer fuel, an’ you all can ride shank’s mare back to Diablo Canyon, ‘r Kansas City, ‘r wherever, where the dice might start rollin’ a bit better for ya!” Another stream of tobacco spit spattered into the dirt.
Jesse adjusted himself slightly in his saddle, his features shifting angrily. “The hell you say, Billy. I ain’t gonna—“
Billy raised one hand casually into the air and a loud detonation sounded from out of the dust. A blaster shot streaked through the gritty haze and impacted into the grass by Jesse’s foot. The little clump of yellow vegetation exploded in a geyser of dirt, smoke, and burning strands.
“Now, Jesse, I don’t wanna gloat, but what we got here is a great example of a dry gulch. I got you pinned to the counter, Jesse, and there ain’t no way yer gettin’ out. I ain’t got as many men as you, but I got plenty, and all mine got rifles, an’ they got all you in their sights already.” He called over his shoulder. “Kid, you ready?” There was a gruff bark from back in the shifting shadows of the dust cloud, and Billy nodded. “Why don’t you let slide, then?”
A blue bolt streaked out of the shadows, flashing through the dust like heat lightning, and came down on the nose of an Iron Horse in the middle of the formation. The bolt sank right through the metal without a pause, and with a wheezing crack the vehicle collapsed to the dirt, throwing the rider into the grass and dust.
“Now, you see? I even got the Apache Kid back there, summonin’ the spirit mumbo jumbo of his people down on yer head.” The grin now threatened to split Billy’s face in two. “What say you all just turn off your machines, dismount, and mosey on back the way you come? You can leave the Canyon-folks in that fine contraption. They’ll be stayin’ with me.”
Jesse stared at the younger outlaw for moments that stretched on into minutes. Every man in the column gripped his controls tightly, wondering how it was going to go down. Far off in the distance, Jesse thought he heard a familiar sound, and he cocked his head to try to catch it better. Iit seemed to fade in and out, the surrounding cloud of thick dust playing games with his hearing.
As he thought about the cloud, his head snapped upright. He looked up to where the vast column that had been thrown into the air by the explosives was still reaching for the clouds. He turned in his saddle to look back the way they had come. The smoke rising from the center of town was dying down now, but there were still faint lines of white in the sky, fading downward towards the earth. He turned back to Billy and this time his own face wore a grin far more genuine than it had been.
“Billy, you think a’tall about your little plan when you decided to launch half the badlands up into the sky like that?” His tone was light and casual, but there was iron beneath it.
Billy’s smile faltered slightly. “I’m not gettin’ yer meanin’, Jesse.”
“Bumped into Bennett Vaughn back down in Sacred Lake.” Behind Billy the pulsing sounds rose a notch, bolstering Jesse’s confidence. “He had a right interestin’ tale to tell. ‘Bout you havin’ a bit of a run in on yer way north?”
Billy’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked to the left and right. He muttered something over his shoulder and one of the shadows in the shifting dust moved and disappeared deeper into the cloud.
“I’m surprised, you already knowin’ you weren’t alone out here, that you’d send up a smoke signal quite this big.” He nodded his head up at the column towering above them. “Apache!” Jesse shouted, a smile growing wider and wider on his face. “You din’t tell Billy sendin’ smoke signals that high was a bad idea?”
Billy’s eyes were less certain. He began to walk slowly backwards into the settling dust cloud. “If this ain’t a trick, Jesse, it’s gonna go poorly fer both of us, y’know.”
Jesse’s grin was back in full force. “Well, that’s a sight better than it just goin’ inta the johnny fer me an’ mine, Billy!”
A series of sharp blasts diffused through the dust cloud. One large blast flashed up on his right. Incoherent screams echoed through the grit, and Jesse settled back on his saddle with a laugh as the first clear word rang out of the chaos.
“Union!”
“Okay, boys, you c’n hear it with yer own ears,” Jesse called over his shoulder to his men. “Billy’s done dropped it in the crapper, but he knows he ain’t gettin’ out of this without our help, so we face down these blue-belly mudsills side by side!” He gunned the Blackjack into motion, crouching down behind the control console. One of his fingers flicked out for the weapons toggle, setting the little light winking red. He looked back over his shoulder with a smirk and called out, “If you get a clean shot at one of his bastards, though, you go ahead and take it.”
Inside the spreading haze, it was absolute madness. The grit was dispersing, and visibility was better than it had been. Still, though, everything beyond a stone’s throw was shadowy and indistinct. The crimson bolts of blaster weapons streaking back and forth ignited the floating particles, leaving streaks of sparkling red stars swirling in their wakes.
Jesse could make out shapes running away to the left and right. He knew those must be Billy’s men, fleeing from their ambush positions and running for their ‘Horses. Farther ahead he could see the low sleek shapes of light vehicles, the source of most of the incoming fire.
Jesse hugged the controls, hunched low over his seat, and gunned the throttle of the Bl
ackjack straight down the throat of the incoming shapes. The vehicle bounced and staggered over the uneven ground and thick clumps of desert grass, but the heavy wheels dug deep, throwing plumes of dusty earth behind him. He squeezed the firing handles with both hands and ruby darts spat out into the eddying dust ahead. Behind him, he could hear the roaring of the Iron Horses as they rushed to follow, and streaks of crimson gunfire flashed past him on both sides, slapping into distant targets.
Jesse’s charge carried him through the dust cloud, amid the rushing enemy, and out the other side. He had seen one hulking shadow in there, nearly as fast as the others. That brute had gave him pause, but he was too caught up in the moment to give it another thought. He knew he had scored at least two direct hits as he watched the bulky shapes of Iron Horses caught by his blasts flip up into the air. The dust got immediately thicker around them, and a familiar, satisfied surge kicked in his gut as he heard them come crashing heavily back to earth. He smiled, feeling the caked dust and dirt crack on his face, and brought the Blackjack whipping around to face the confrontation again.
Most of his men tore out of the dust cloud behind him. The Youngers were all grinning and hollering, except for Johnny, but he was always a sour one. Frank looked grim, hunkered behind his own controls, and Jesse knew that he was wishing he could head for higher ground with Sophie to offer more direct protection to his brother.
“Okay,” Jesse shouted to be heard over the grumbling engines. “We gotta get back in there and clean up right quick! Billy’s gang’ll be on either side of ‘em, if they can rally, we’ll get ‘em between us all, take ‘em down, an’ then we can have our words with Billy in a much more pleasant setting. Anybody seen the driller?”
The Jessie James Archives Page 28